Spinner bike with adjustable magnetic resistance

ABSTRACT

A spinner bike with adjustable magnetic resistance includes a generator, a disc plate, a magnetic resistance adjusting apparatus and a resistance adjusting apparatus. The elements are disposed on a frame body of a spinner bike, so that a pedaling mechanism of the spinner bike can be operated to drive a flywheel and the disc plate for generating electricity by the cutting of flux formed by a plurality of magnets surrounding an armature core. Rotating a button of the resistance adjusting apparatus enables a connecting rod operating a pulling cable, so as to further alter coverage of the flux on the disc plate for adjustment of the loading resistance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a spinner bike with adjustable magneticresistance, particularly to one that controls coverage of magnetic fluxon a disc plate to smoothly adjust the loading resistance of the spinnerbike.

2. Description of the Related Art

With reference to FIG. 1, conventionally, a spinner bike 910 has abraking element 912 disposed aside a flywheel 911 to produce a brakingforce. The braking element 912 engages an end of a connector 913 whichhas the other end connected to an end of a cable 914. The cable 914 hasthe other end connected to a brake controller 915. A braking force isproduced when the brake controller 915 pulls the cable 914 to rotate theconnector 913 and force the braking element 912 to contact with theflywheel 911 for producing friction. However, such braking device cannotafford intense and constant frictions and the components are rapidlyconsumed due to wear and tear. Also, a strong smell is produced in thebraking operation due to the friction contact.

FIG. 2 illustrates a magnetically controlled loading device 930. Suchdevice can avoid the intense and constant frictions and the bad smellproduced in spinner bikes such as the one in FIG. 1. The magneticallycontrolled loading device 930 has a magnetic board 931 placed near aninner periphery of a flywheel device 933 and has a gap G formedin-between the magnetic board 931 and the flywheel device 933. Bypulling a cable 935, the magnetic board 931 has a free end thereofradially displaced and the area of the gap G is altered; the loadingdevice 930 is therefore able to adjust the loading force produced by theoperation. However, such loading devices cannot reduce the loading forceto zero since it is fixed to the loading device 930 at a fixed section937 and the magnetic field created by the operation would not departfrom the loading device 930.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a spinnerbike that is able to adjust a loading resistance for operation.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a spinner bikethat is able to smoothly adjust a loading resistance from a minimum to amaximum.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a spinnerbike that has a generator to produce electricity power for an interfaceon the spinner bike to display numbers of loading resistance.

To achieve the objectives above, the present invention comprises a framebody including a pedaling mechanism and a handler bar; an electricitygenerator disposed at a rear side of said frame body, including a fixingelement, a circular armature core surrounding said fixing element, arotating element having an axis engaging a fourth pulley wheel and anaxial seat engaging in a sleeve bush of a flywheel and a plurality ofmagnets disposed in an inner depression of said flywheel and surroundingsaid armature core, a gap arranged between said plurality of magnets andsaid armature core, so that when the flywheel is driven to rotate by therotating element, the magnets and the armature core would produceelectricity due to operation of cutting-of-flux; a disc plate made ofmagnetically conductive metal and disposed around an outer periphery ofsaid flywheel to be rotated together with said flywheel; a magneticresistance adjusting apparatus disposed on said frame body at a frontside of said disc plate, including a positioning element with a spacearranged therein, a magnetically reluctant element fixed at a bottom ofsaid positioning element by a positioning shaft and having a pair ofsymmetrical fixing plates, said pair of fixing plates arranged in a gapwith a distance slightly greater than a thickness of said disc plate,each fixing plate having a magnet engaged at an inner side thereof, anda pulling cable having an inner cable arranged inside a cable sheaththereof, said cable sheath having a front end thereof connected to saidpositioning element and said inner cable having a front end thereofstretching out from said cable sheath and connected to a lateral side ofsaid magnetically reluctant element by a fixing block; thereby themagnetic flux of said magnets inside the pair of fixing plates wouldcover both side of the disc plate laterally when the pulling cable isnot operated and a loading resistance at a maximum value is produced,and the magnetic flux of said magnets of the fixing plates would departfrom the disc plate gradually and the loading resistance decreasesgradually until returning to zero when the pulling cable is operated;and a resistance adjusting apparatus including a case body disposed at afront end of said frame body, a rotatable button, an operating rodconnected to said button and an operating piece having a center thereofpivotally engaged to said case body by a pivot shaft and an end thereofpivotally engaged to the operating rod, a rear end of said inner cableof the pulling cable further fixedly tied up to a connecting rod,thereby the button is rotated to control the operating piece operatedbased on the pivot shaft and further have the connected rod operatingthe pulling cable for operation.

Whereby the pedaling mechanism is operated to rotate the rotatingelement for the flywheel and the disc plate to be driven for rotationand for the electricity generator to produce electricity, and the buttonis rotated for the connecting rod of the resistance adjusting apparatusto operate the pulling cable for the purpose of altering coverage areaof magnetic flux produced by the operation and therefore adjusting aloading resistance of the spinner bike.

In addition, an interface is further installed on the handler bar andhas electricity supply from the electricity generator, and a magneticencoder with a magnet is further disposed at a bottom of the operatingrod and a printed circuit board with encoding circuit is disposed belowthe magnet of the magnetic encoder, so that the printed circuit board isable to detect a rotation angle of the magnet and convert the rotationangle into a value of loading resistance displayed on the interface. Aspring element is engaged outside the positioning shaft of the magneticresistance adjusting apparatus so that when the connecting rod isoperated and the pulling cable is driven thereby, the magneticallyreluctant element rotates in a clockwise direction around thepositioning shaft, an when the connecting rod release the operationalforce on the pulling cable, the magnetically reluctant element thereforereturns in a counter clockwise direction due to a torque force of thespring element.

In short, the present invention has following advantages:

1. The pedaling mechanism is operated to drive the rotating element ofthe electricity generator by the second belt and rotate the disc plateconnected to the flywheel simultaneously. The magnetic resistanceadjusting apparatus has magnetic flux covering the disc plate to producethe loading resistance for the pedaling mechanism. Therefore,controlling the coverage area of the magnetic flux on the disc plateenables adjustment of the loading resistance for the spinner bike.

2. The magnetically reluctant element is pivotally fixed on thepositioning element by the positioning shaft. When the magneticallyreluctant element is rotated to the lowest position, the pair of fixingplates would be positioned at lateral sides of the disc plate; when themagnetically reluctant element is rotated to the highest position, thepair of fixing plates would be positioned in the space of thepositioning element. Furthermore, the resistance adjusting apparatus isactivated to operate the pulling cable, causing the magnetic fluxproduced in a maximum value as the magnetic flux is fully covering thedisc plate. Then the loading resistance would be gradually reduced asthe magnetic flux is departing from the area of the disc plate untilthere is no overlapping area. In other words, the present invention isable to achieve a smooth adjustment of the loading resistance for thespinner bike.

3. The magnetic encoder disposed at the bottom of the operating rod inthe resistance adjusting apparatus has the magnet and the PCB withencoding circuit. The PCB detects the rotation angle of the magnet toconvert to a number of the loading resistance displayed on theinterface, thereby allowing the users to obtain the information of theloading resistance instantly and to make further adjustments whenneeded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a braking structure of aconventional spinner bike;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a magnetic loading structureof a conventional spinner bike;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a right side elevation view of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is an exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is an exploded view of partial structure in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of an electricity generator of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6B is a sectional view of the electricity generator taken alongline 6B-6B of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a magnetic resistance adjustingapparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 8A is an exploded view of a pair of fixing plates and thecomponents thereof according to the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a perspective view of the pair of fixing plates of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation of the magneticresistance adjusting apparatus;

FIG. 10 is another schematic diagram illustrating operation of themagnetic resistance adjusting apparatus;

FIG. 11 is yet another schematic diagram illustrating operation of themagnetic resistance adjusting apparatus;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a resistanceadjusting apparatus of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a loading resistance beingdetected and converted to an interface according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, the present invention is a spinner bike withadjustable magnetic resistance 100, mainly including a frame body 70, anelectricity generator 10, a disc plate 20, a magnetic resistanceadjusting apparatus 30 a resistance adjusting apparatus 40 and aninterface 50.

The frame body 70 includes a pedaling mechanism 71, a handler bar 72 anda seat 73. The pedaling mechanism 71 has a pair of pedals 711, each ofwhich connected to a connecting piece 712 and driven by a pedal shaft713.

The pedal shafts 713 are further engaged to a first pulley wheel 714that connects to a second pulley wheel 716 by a first belt 715 anddrives the second pulley wheel 716 thereby. The second pulley wheel 716is further connected to a third pulley wheel 717 which shares the sameaxis therewith. The diameter of the first pulley wheel 714 is greaterthan the one of the second pulley wheel 716, and the diameter of thesecond pulley wheel 716 is shorter than the one of the third pulleywheel 717. Therefore, the pedaling mechanism 71 is able to increase therotation speed and reduce the torque force of the spinner bike byoperation of the pedals 711 and the pedal shaft 713 transmitted to thethird pulley wheel 717.

The electricity generator 10 is disposed at a rear side of the framebody 70 and includes a fixing element 11, a circular armature core 12surrounding the fixing element 11, a rotating element 13 having an axis131 engaging a fourth pulley wheel 14 and an axial seat 132 engaging ina sleeve bush 151 of a flywheel 15 and a plurality of magnets 16disposed in an inner depression 152 of the flywheel 15 and surroundingthe armature core 12; a gap G1 is arranged between the plurality ofmagnets 16 and the armature core 12, so that when the flywheel 15 isdriven to rotate by the rotating element 13, the magnets 16 and thearmature core 12 would produce electricity due to operation ofcutting-of-flux. In the embodiment, the present invention furtherincludes an interface 50 installed on the handler bar 72 and obtainingelectricity supply from a circuit (not shown) of the electricitygenerator 10. An outer cap 18 is disposed at an outer side of the fixingelement 11 to prevent the users from electricity shock and engaged withthe flywheel 15 to be rotated therewith. The electricity generator 10also includes a bearing cap 17 fixed on the frame body 70 and threebearings 19, one of which is disposed between the bearing cap 17 and therotating element 13, another one of which is disposed between the fixingelement 11 and the rotating element 13, and the other one of which isdisposed between the fixing element 11 and the outer cap 18 as shown inFIGS. 5B and 6B.

The disc plate 20 is made of magnetically conductive metals such asaluminum and cooper and it is disposed around an outer periphery of theflywheel 15 to be rotated therewith. With diameter D of the disc plate20 is longer than a diameter d of the flywheel 15, an area A full ofmagnetic resistance can be increased and the resistance is adjustable.In this embodiment, the disc plate 20 is fixedly screwed by a pluralityof screws 21 to the flywheel 15 through a plurality of screw holes 22thereon. Also, the fourth driving pulley wheel 14 is connected to thethird pulley wheel 717 by a second belt 141 as shown in FIG. 3.Therefore, when the pedaling mechanism 71 is operated, the rotatingelement 13, the outer cap 18, the flywheel 15 and the disc plate 20 areable to be driven for rotation on the frame body 70 smoothly.

The magnetic resistance adjusting apparatus 30 is disposed on the framebody 70 at a front side of the disc plate 20. Referring to FIGS. 5, 7,8A and 8B, the magnetic resistance adjusting apparatus 30 includes apositioning element 31 and a magnetically reluctant element 32. Thepositioning element 31 has a space 311 arranged therein, a spindle hole312 arranged at a bottom thereof and a trench hole 313 at a top thereof.The magnetically reluctant element 32 has a pair of symmetrical fixingplates 321 fixed by a pivot element 322 and the fixing plates 321 arearranged in a gap G2 with a distance slightly greater than a thickness Tof the disc plate 20 as shown in FIG. 7. The magnetically reluctantelement 32 is fixed at the spindle hole 312 of the positioning element31 by a positioning shaft 33 and each fixing plate 321 has at least onemagnet 323 engaged at an inner side thereof. In this embodiment, thereare two magnets 323 engaged the inner side of each fixing plate 321, butthe present invention is not limited to such application. When themagnetically reluctant element 32 is pivotally rotated to the lowestposition, the fixing plates 321 would be covering both sides of the discplate 20 and when the magnetically reluctant element 32 is pivotallyrotated to the highest position, the fixing plates 321 would be in thespace 311 of the positioning element 31.

Furthermore, the magnetic resistance adjusting apparatus 30 furtherincludes a pulling cable 34 which has an inner cable 342 arranged insidea cable sheath 341. The cable sheath 341 has a front end thereofconnected to the positioning element 31 and the inner cable 342 has afront end thereof stretching out from the cable sheath 341 and connectedto a lateral side of the magnetically reluctant element 32 by a fixingblock 343. The operation of the present invention is activated by thepulling cable 34. Referring to FIGS. 9-11, the magnetic flux of themagnets 323 inside the pair of fixing plates 32 covers both side of thedisc plate 20 laterally when the pulling cable 34 is not operated and aloading resistance at a maximum value is produced; the magnetic flux ofthe magnets 323 of the fixing plates 32 departs from the disc plate 20gradually and the loading resistance decreases gradually until thefixing plates 32 leaves the disc plate 20 completely and the resistancereturning to zero when the pulling cable 34 is operated. A springelement 331 is engaged outside the positioning shaft 33 of the magneticresistance adjusting apparatus 30 as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. When thepulling cable 34 is operated, the magnetically reluctant element 32rotates pivotally in a clockwise direction around the positioning shaft33 and sinks into the space 311 of the positioning element 31, and thespring element 331 is twisted and a torque thereof is restored. When thepulling cable 34 is released for loosening, the magnetically reluctantelement 32 returns pivotally in a counter clockwise direction due toreleasing of the torque force from the spring element 331.

With reference to FIG. 12, in this embodiment, the resistance adjustingapparatus 40 includes a case body 41 disposed at a front end of theframe body 70, a rotatable button 42 disposed in the case body 41, anoperating rod 43 connected to the button 42 and an operating piece 44having a center pivotally engaged to the case body 41 by a pivot shaft45, an end pivotally engaged to the operating rod 43 and the other endpivotally engaged to an operating rod 46. A rear end of the inner cable341 is also fixedly tied up to the connecting rod 46; thereby the button42 is rotated clockwise to lower the operating rod 43 and the operatingpiece 44 is operated based on the pivot shaft 45 to elevate theconnecting rod 46 for operating the pulling cable 34. If the button 42is rotated counter-clockwise, the operating rod 43 is elevated and theoperating piece 44 is operated to lower the connecting rod 46 forloosening the pulling cable 34. Moreover, a magnetic encoder 47 with amagnet 48 is further disposed at a bottom of the operating rod 43, and aprinted circuit board (PCB) 49 with an encoding circuit is disposedbelow the magnet 48, so that the PCB 49 is able to detect a rotationangle of the magnet 48 and convert it into a value of loading resistancedisplayed on the interface 50 as shown in FIG. 13.

Whereby the pedaling mechanism 71 is operated to rotate the rotatingelement 13 for the flywheel 15 and the disc plate 20 to be driven forrotation and for the electricity generator 10 to produce electricity,and the button 42 is rotated for the connecting rod 46 of the resistanceadjusting apparatus 40 to operate the pulling cable 34 for the purposeof altering coverage area of magnetic flux produced by the operation andtherefore adjusting a loading resistance of the spinner bike.

With the structures disclosed above, the magnetic resistance adjustingapparatus 30 has magnetic flux produced to cover the disc plate 20 andto form resistance for the pedaling mechanism 71 of the spinner bike. Byaltering the coverage area of the magnetic flux on the disc plate 20,the magnetic resistance can be adjusted as needed. Furthermore, as themagnetically reluctant element 32 is pivotally rotated between theposition around the disc plate 20 and the space 311 of the positioningelement 31 by operation of the pulling cable 34, the magnetic resistanceis thereby increased to the maximum value and reduced to the minimumvalue, i.e., zero resistance. The present invention therefore is able toperform a smooth adjusting process of the magnetic resistance producedby the operation between the maximum and the minimum. Moreover, themagnetic encoder 47 is able to further display the number of theresistance as a loading force on the interface 50 by converting the dataof the rotation angle of the magnet 48 thereof, so that users of thespinner bike can obtain the information during exercising instantly andachieve better efficiency of the workout.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described indetail for purposes of illustration, various modifications andenhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except asby the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A spinner bike with adjustable magneticresistance, comprising: a frame body including a pedaling mechanism anda handler bar; an electricity generator disposed at a rear side of saidframe body, including a fixing element, a circular armature coresurrounding said fixing element, a rotating element having an axisengaging a fourth pulley wheel and an axial seat engaging in a sleevebush of a flywheel and a plurality of magnets disposed in an innerdepression of said flywheel and surrounding said armature core, a gaparranged between said plurality of magnets and said armature core, sothat when the flywheel is driven to rotate by the rotating element, themagnets and the armature core would produce electricity due to operationof cutting-of-flux; a disc plate made of magnetically conductive metaland disposed around an outer periphery of said flywheel to be rotatedtogether with said flywheel; a magnetic resistance adjusting apparatusdisposed on said frame body at a front side of said disc plate,including a positioning element with a space arranged therein, amagnetically reluctant element fixed at a bottom of said positioningelement by a positioning shaft and having a pair of symmetrical fixingplates, said pair of fixing plates arranged in a gap with a distanceslightly greater than a thickness of said disc plate, each fixing platehaving a magnet engaged at an inner side thereof, and a pulling cablehaving an inner cable arranged inside a cable sheath thereof, said cablesheath having a front end thereof connected to said positioning elementand said inner cable having a front end thereof stretching out from saidcable sheath and connected to a lateral side of said magneticallyreluctant element by a fixing block; thereby the magnetic flux of saidmagnets inside the pair of fixing plates would cover both side of thedisc plate laterally when the pulling cable is not operated and aloading resistance at a maximum value is produced, and the magnetic fluxof said magnets of the fixing plates would depart from the disc plategradually and the loading resistance decreases gradually until returningto zero when the pulling cable is operated; and a resistance adjustingapparatus including a case body disposed at a front end of said framebody, a rotatable button, an operating rod connected to said button andan operating piece having a center thereof pivotally engaged to saidcase body by a pivot shaft and an end thereof pivotally engaged to theoperating rod, a rear end of said inner cable of the pulling cablefurther fixedly tied up to a connecting rod, thereby the button isrotated to control the operating piece operated based on the pivot shaftand further have the connected rod operating the pulling cable foroperation; whereby the pedaling mechanism is operated to rotate therotating element for the flywheel and the disc plate to be driven forrotation and for the electricity generator to produce electricity, andthe button is rotated for the connecting rod of the resistance adjustingapparatus to operate the pulling cable for the purpose of alteringcoverage area of magnetic flux produced by the operation and thereforeadjusting a loading resistance of the spinner bike.
 2. The spinner bikewith adjustable magnetic resistance as claimed in claim 1, wherein aninterface is further installed on the handler bar and has electricitysupply from the electricity generator.
 3. The spinner bike withadjustable magnetic resistance as claimed in claim 2, wherein a magneticencoder with a magnet is further disposed at a bottom of the operatingrod and a printed circuit board with an encoding circuit is disposedbelow the magnet of the magnetic encoder, so that the printed circuitboard is able to detect a rotation angle of the magnet and convert therotation angle into a value of loading resistance displayed on theinterface.
 4. The spinner bike with adjustable magnetic resistance asclaimed in claim 1, wherein a spring element is engaged outside thepositioning shaft of the magnetic resistance adjusting apparatus so thatwhen the connecting rod is operated and the pulling cable is driventhereby, the magnetically reluctant element rotates in a clockwisedirection around the positioning shaft, and when the connecting rodrelease the operational force on the pulling cable, the magneticallyreluctant element therefore returns in a counter clockwise direction dueto a torque force of the spring element.